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Consumer electronics and medical devices may soon benefit from batteries that are as small as a grain of sand thanks to advanced 3D printing technology. The tech is being tested by researchers at Harvard University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The batteries' design takes inspiration from similar techniques used in dental labs and involves producing stacks of tightly interlaced electrodes.

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Work on grain-sized microbatteries by Harvard researchers has been honored by the printed electronics industry. According to the Academic R&D Award citation from the IDTechEx Printed Electronics USA 2013 event, "these microbatteries occupy volumes less than 1mm3 -- equivalent in size to a single grain of sand -- and are 1,000 times smaller than the smallest commercially available rechargeable batteries. The university is working on developing these batteries for a range of autonomous applications, including biomedical devices, micro-UAVs and distributed sensor arrays (e.g., smart dust)."

The number of references to cybersecurity in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission more than doubled during the past six months, data show, a sign that U.S. businesses are becoming more attentive to the potential financial risks of data breaches. According to a white paper from Intelligize, mentions of cybersecurity as a risk factor in SEC filings increased 106% so far this year, with telecommunications, computer and Internet companies accounting for two-fifths of all mentions.

Super small medical devices and other miniature mechanisms now have an independent power source thanks to the efforts of researchers at Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Science and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Using 3D printing, the researchers have succeeded in producing lithium-ion batteries the size of a grain of sand. The key was the ability of the printer to produce stacks of ultra-thin electrodes assembled "out of plane."

A University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign research team has come up with a microbattery technology that it says will offer more power and faster charging for miniature electronics. The researchers foresee applications in consumer electronics, lasers, medical devices, sensors and other products.

A new technology from Xerox that taps into laser-printer tech from the 1970s may make possible desktop factories that precisely place thousands of grain-sized chiplets on a surface. The new manufacturing method would replace today's rigid chips and could make possible such products as custom-built computers, pressure-sensitive "skins" for robots or flexible smartphones.